Weekend Trollings.

This weekend has been a welcome sun-break from the drizzly, snowy week we've had. It's beautiful out there, sunny and warm, and you can really see the mountain ranges when you wander down the street. Another reason to adore this city;)

So we've discovered 3 new places here in the area where we are now fans. If you're here, you should really check these guys out...and if you're not, just you WAIT till you get here because I'm totally going to drag you there;)

We've found the deli we've been looking for (that isn't downtown Seattle), about 15m up the road in Mill Creek. It's called The Fire Station Gourmet Deli. They make some of the tastiest sandwiches and I was really blown away by their Marguerite Panini (fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil, with a hint of garlic ... and the added provolone cheese by yours truly) and Dragon loved his ham/cheddar/bacon on wheat bread.

As we wandered up and down this incredibly Hollywood-back-lot scenic "main street", we also noticed a place called Spotted Cow Cream & Bean. OMG! They have a milkshake called "Mad Cow" which is your choice of gelato (so amazingly creamy with a vast array of tasty flavors!) and 6 shots of fresh espresso, blended together and topped with an uber creamy whipped cream. It was SO GOOD that we went back again today since we were in the area.

And finally, today, we decided to do something we've never had the opportunity to do (because, let's face it, it's hard to find this in San Antonio): we found an authentic french bakery up in the Mill Creek/Everette area. Although everything we tried was so lovely, our favorite, by far, was the lemon tart. Mmm. The coffee eclair, the cream puff, even the chocolate croissant...they were all amazingly tasty. And affordable too! We were very impressed and it WILL be on our regularly scheduled monthly outings. L'Artisan French Bakery...tres yummi!

I have more to say and update you with, but for the moment, I need to devour my most recent creation;) It smells SO good!

XOXO
Bella

Cold and snowy.

It was a snowy day yesterday, apparently. I woke up to huge fat flakes falling from the sky in that dizzying whirl that can hypnotize you if you stare at it for too long. It didn't last for too long, and it didn't stick, because it was gone by about 2pm, but it was pretty while it lasted.

We're coming up on the rainy season around here, apparently, with forecasts stating that it should be raining all week long. I actually rather like the overcast days with random sun breaks.

As Dragon said, it's a good thing we hit the Uwajimaya market downtown on Saturday. Oh, I was in absolute HEAVEN!! I've been yearning for Japanese culture since I've been back stateside these 11 or 12 years now, and I believe I've found everything I could possibly want at U market. It's definitely somewhere I'm going to be taking my parents when they come to visit:)

I'm still working on the orange scarf that never ends. I suppose it might go faster if I actually put in long stretches of time crocheting it. I really should get it finished before, say, spring, so I have a chance to wear it. *laughs* I think right now, it's approaching the length I want, I'm just noodling with various ideas of how to edge the thing. I think I might do just a simple picot edge because it just seems to cry out for something easy.

I received two WONDERFUL skeins from my yarn pimptress this past week. I am utterly enamored with these two yarns. They both satisfy my "dark yarn" sweet tooth while being utterly soft and fabulous. I don't know what to do with them yet, but I do want it to be something I can wear regularly because I really adore the colors! Here...let me show you:

On Cat's Paws (Merino/Bamboo)
Coldsteel (BFL)

I adore both of these yarns. SO pretty. So addictive. And I am totally on the hunt for something fantastic to turn them into!

In cooking news, I made a fantastic White Cheese Chicken Lasagna on Friday night. The only change I can think of making would be to season the chicken a bit more and add a tiny smidge more spinach, but overall, it was quite tasty.

Other than that, I've been busy busy with work. I'm thinking of dropping back down to one company as opposed to the two I'm working now. I feel like I'm burning the candle at both ends, but due to some financial obligations, I won't be ditching the first job until the middle of April, most likely. I'm anxious to get there and who knows? I might be able to manage it earlier rather than later.

Also, the months of June, July, and August apparently are going to be quite full for us! In June, we've been invited to join a bunch of coworkers in Las Vegas. Considering everyone in my family has been without me, this will be my first excursion and I'm quite excited! My mom will apparently be joining us there, as will my good friend Dawn from Alabama. It's about time I get to meet her!!

In July, my folks, my grandmother, and my aunt/uncle are apparently coming to visit for a week. It's shaping up to be quite a large group. Hopefully, I'll be able to come up with plenty of things to keep everyone occupied! Dragon might have to work a few of the days but that's fine...it saves him from having to deal with my relatives;)

And then in August, Dawn and Jeff might be coming to spend some time here! *bounces about* We're thinking of going to Hempfest because Dragon and I missed out last year, so it'll be 1000xs more fun with them along;)

So that's it, for updates right now. If I think of anything else, you'll be the first (or...second) to know;) And now? Some updated pics of our furbabies:

Kratos sits pretty for the camera.

Blade, showing off his pretty face.

Mumbles, interested in "other" things.

About as close to a group shot as I'm going to get. Kratos is the only one missing (and yes, the area is a disaster, but it's cleaner now!)

Shadow decided that one day this past week was "take your kitty to work day" and proceeded to firmy entrench himself in Dragon's work satchel.

Could you really resist this face? This face is the only reason he's still with us and not out in the snow. LOL!

That's all for now!

XOXO
Bella

Finally, an update!

The view coming home from dropping Dragon off at work this morning. Sno!

It's been pretty slow around here since my last update. Most of the concerns have all been related to the economy and how I'm being impacted, financially, by losing one job and starting over at another one. Unfortunately, it's a significant reduction in income for us that I'm quite unhappy with. So, when the going gets tough, I get out there and try to find something else. I've had 3 interviews so far with one particular company and there's really no reason why I wouldn't get the job, I'm just going to keep most of it under wraps until I hear yay or nay.

So in lieu of boring wah-wah-meer-meer complaints, I'm going to give you pictures!

Mumbles approves of this post.

We went to see Abney Park this past Friday as a way to blow off some steam (haha!) and in celebration, I finally pulled out the Lumina yarn (from a few posts back) and crocheted up some skluv gloves! (By Copperscale Dragon on Etsy) I had bought the pattern a while back and was just fiddling with it, trying to figure out what yarn to use and how I wanted them to look. I finally decided on Friday that I was going to use the loverly red/black glittery Lumina I'd gotten back in January. I think they worked out pretty well:
I love the little skull pattern, and the buttons are some that I picked up from JoAnn's Fabric up the road just a few hours prior to the show. I'm glad I made this yarn into gloves, but my only beef with it is that it's quite scratchy. Definitely an accent yarn more than a garment yarn, in my opinion.

Speaking of the show, it was as amazing as the first time we saw them last year. And! Because I have a tall husband who can reach ON stage, I managed to get one of Finn's keys! (They were coming off her skirt as she danced):

Biggest and BEST concert memorabilia I have:) She's so beautiful to watch, not just being physically attractive, but also because she's an AMAZING dancer with a beautiful voice.

And because you can never have enough cat photos, my Dragon caught the Doom Brothers snuggling the other day. It was utterly adorable because, while they love on each other quite often, it's very rare to catch them completely passed out in a cat pile.

Mumbles and Kratos.

The Doom Brothers in a moment of brotherly love.

Nothing to see here, move along.

That's all for now!

XOXO
~Bella

I feel the earth move under my feet...

The view from my window today.

Foggy, with a touch of Silent Hill.

Apparently, this morning at about 5:25am, Seattle was rocked by a 4.6 earthquake.

Want to know where I was? Crashed out, completely asleep.

I found out from my mother about it when she called me to ask if Dragon and I had had some seriously earth-shattering sex this morning. Queue my puzzlement, which led to the explanation. *laughs* I then find out, from her, that I have a history of sleeping through earthquakes (courtesy of my younger years in Alaska).

Well isn't that nice? It's rather charming to know that the house could literally fall down around me and I'd sleep right through it. I sent a text to Dragon to find out if HE knew about it (since he gets up much earlier than I do) but considering he didn't say anything to me this morning as we were getting ready to run him to work, I'd have to say that he was possibly as oblivious as I was. The cats certainly didn't freak out enough to wake us up. So there you go.

To be honest, I'll take an earthquake over a tornado/hurricane ANY DAY. Which is another reason why I wanted to move to Washington.

*Chuckles* How exciting. And I slept right through it.

And to prove how disinterested the cats were, behold:

Blade, in his tree, looking very non-plussed.

Kratos, watching on with disinterest.

Mumbles, in the window, wondering what the fuss is about.

Shadow, window-bird-hunter extraordinaire.

Habu, just wondering when she's going to get some treats.

XOXO
Bella

And...moar...sno!

It's snowing again today, but it's supposed to change to rain by this afternoon. I have to admit, as a sno-baby, I'm loving this gentle sno-fall we're getting at random intervals:)

And a pimp! Check to the right sidebar. I've added a small list of links that I love, ones that you'll most likely see featured in my posts right now. I haven't figured out just yet how to add pictures to those links, but the lovely Andrea has provided a very nice pic with which to link to her etsy shop. Behold:
So there you have it! Little post today, I have an appointment at 10:30 with a storage unit because we're finally tired of having all these boxes hanging out around here. Oy.

It's a slow phone day, so hopefully I'll be able to get some more knitting/crochet/housecleaning done around here today. We'll see:)

XOXO
Bella

We can has moar sno?

Well this is certainly unexpected.

Apparently it's snowing outside! I doubt it'll stick around too long, since tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and a brisk 44 degrees out there.

Hey, I'll take and enjoy what I get :)

There are so many things I'm loving about this city! It's constantly full of surprises! For example, there are mountains that can be seen while I drive my husband to work in the morning. However, it changes from day to day what can be seen of the mountain range. Some mornings, it's a beautiful, crisp mountain view. Other days, you can barely make them out because there's a thick, surreal fog. Other times, you can't see them at all because of the clouds. But it's always lovely, even when it's grey outside.

I find reasons upon reasons to continue falling in love with this place.

Oh, and congratulations to my lil' brother on his engagement! Welcome to the family L, we're glad to have you:) I suppose it's time to start saving up for a Florida trip sometime in the future.

That's all for now:)

XOXO
Bella

Oh me, oh my.

I got my most recent yarn steal from Andrea yesterday.

It's 750yds of Merino, aptly titled "Orange Slices". I've been on a brightish color kick lately. It normally doesn't last too long, but orange is usually quite hit or miss with me, specifically. I just have to say that this is some super yummy stuff that has my name written all over it. *grins*

We went to Wallingford this past Saturday to celebrate me not being in dispatch anymore, in search of the best cupcakes in Seattle. I do believe we found them. Trophy Cupcakes, in the Wallingford Center, has some of the most scrumptious little cakes I've ever laid my tastebuds upon! Especially tasty were their Red Velvet/Cream cheese cupcake, the Lemon cupcake, and the Cafe Au Lait cupcakes. The coffee was good, but I made the dire mistake of getting a pomegranate mocha. Let's just say that the flavor was reminiscent of having spent too much time at the bar and is the taste in your mouth right before you offer a prayer to the porcelain god. Mmhmm.

We set out to wander the center a bit and happened upon a yarn store! Bad Woman Yarn is one of two yarn stores I've had the pleasure of perusing in this city, and it was...amazing! The people working there were so incredibly friendly that I was taken aback. I was able to pick up some yarn for my mom's Christmas gift for later this year, and I snagged two Addi Turbo Lace circular needles for my sock adventures, as well as a few small tiny skeins of Panda Silk and Panda Wool in some nifty colorways, oh, and some sparkly lumina from Berocco! Behold:


And I wouldn't have bought these, but they were discounted 20% off. Ladies? Gentlemen? Is that not a steal? Even if they're totally frou-frou yarns?
The guy who (I'm assuming) owns the shop was really nice and I now have a discount card all set up there, where if I spend more, eventually the card punch will get me $20 off my next purchase. Again, I say, how on earth could you NOT love a yarn store that does that?

We also perused a comic store and had some faboo taco stand tacos and then came home to chill for the rest of the night.

Yesterday, it snowed. And then it melted. And now? It's just rainy. Welcome to Seattle;)

XOXO
~Bella